Beyond reasonable drought: hotspots reveal a link between the 'Big Dry' and cryptosporidiosis in Australia's Murray Darling Basin.

Beyond reasonable drought: hotspots reveal a link between the 'Big Dry' and cryptosporidiosis in Australia's Murray Darling Basin. J Water Health. 2018 Dec;16(6):1033-1037 Authors: Lal A, Konings P Abstract There is little evidence on how the health impacts of drought vary spatially and temporally. With a focus on waterborne cryptosporidiosis, we identify spatio-temporal hotspots and by using interrupted time series analysis, examine the impact of Australia's Big Dry (2001-2009) in these disease clusters in the Murray Darling Drainage Basin. Analyses revealed a statistically significant hotspot in the north of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and a hotspot in the north-eastern end of the basin in Queensland. After controlling for long-term trend and seasonality in cryptosporidiosis, interrupted time series analysis of reported cases in these hotspots indicated a statistically significant link with the Big Dry. In both areas, the end of the Big Dry was associated with a lower risk of reported cryptosporidiosis; in the ACT, the estimated relative risk (RR) was 0.16 (95% confidence interval: 0.07; 0.33), and in Queensland the RR was 0.42 (95% confidence interval: 0.19; 0.42). Although these data do not establish a causal association, this research highlights the potential for drought-related health risks. PMID: 30540277 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Journal of Water and Health - Category: Environmental Health Tags: J Water Health Source Type: research